When I think of Russia, I try to bypass my present political impressions. This has been a country that has seen its share of suffering and suppression, but through its turmoil, it has gifted us with some of the best literature and music of the world: Tolstoy and Pasternak, Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky and Borodin’s ethereal “Polovtsian Dances.” I see a people who are poets and who are still searching.

My mother-in-law, long passed, grew up in that part of the world, eastern Poland, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. During World War I, she was inadvertently shot during a battle and subsequently hospitalized. One day she was seen crying by a recuperating Russian soldier. He reached out and kindly said to her: “Please stop your tears. You will be happy and healthy and have five wonderful sons.” She never forgot him. After becoming an American citizen, she would retell that story to each of her four sons. Kathy Lollock, Santa Rosa, Calif.

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When I was growing up in India, the “good vs. evil” narrative wasn’t as omnipresent given that our now discarded system of state-controlled socialism was modeled after the U.S.S.R. The following line from Knausgaard so aptly sums up my feelings: “When I got older and started to read, the situation became more complicated, because it was from Russia that the best and most intense literature came.” I must have been 12 when I read my first Chekhov short story. To me, he remains the most eloquent and honest storyteller of the human condition. For so long now, I have wanted to travel to Russia to see Chekhov’s towns and villages and meet and get to know the people, but somehow I never got around to it. I have been to other parts of the former U.S.S.R., which has only heightened the fascination. I know I, too, am guilty of “myths and romantic imagery.” This lovely read made my Russia travel lust even greater. Will be sure to reread it when I finally make my trip to Russia. Sharadiya, New York

Carvell Wallace wrote about the significance of the “Black Panther” film to black audiences.

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Fantastic article. Years ago, I remember Michelle Obama was chastised by white Americans for saying something like: For the first time in my life, I am proud of my country. I remember my rage at the reaction. Did white Americans know nothing of the history of oppression? It is easy for me to understand the disillusionment of African-Americans with a country that has systematically abused and rejected them. Even today, Waco, Tex., has no memorial to Jesse Washington, a man whose horrific murder in that city in 1916 led to a national outcry against lynching.

I am not of African background, but I am nonwhite and a lifelong fan of Marvel Comics. When I was a child, the only superhero that I could picture myself being was T’Challa, because he was the only one who came anywhere close to looking like me. The reality of seeing yourself represented, especially for children, really does affect what you can imagine yourself being. When “Black Panther” debuts, I plan to be there, happily joining the trip to Wakanda. Shaun Narine, Fredericton, New Brunswick

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This article crystallized what I could not communicate to my nonblack friends about this movie. This is a historical event for us. A coming together. A challenge to an assigned inferiority complex. A reminder to the world that we know how great we are; the rest of you need to catch up.

This moment is about more than a comic-book character in a fictitious country. It’s a response to a longing in our hearts. This is Obama’s inauguration. This is M.L.K.’s speech in Washington. This is “Roots” ’s first airing. This is speaking to people who refuse to accept that they are lesser. As a result, we will naturally bond, blend and embrace one another in this mutual recognition of what we so desire, what we lack and what we hope to be.

Wallace highlighted the joke on Twitter. “This is what white people get to feel all the time?” Yes, I assume it is, and they take it for granted. The infrequency of the experience for us creates euphoria of apocalyptic proportions. I’m so Blackity Black right now, nothing can kill my swag. I’m going to see “Black Panther” in preview with my own king in full regalia. And as black Twitter has quipped, “I wonder if the theater will let me bring my spear?” Peggy Goodwin, Englewood, N.J.

Illustrations by Giacomo Gambineri

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